The Big Time

Well, after years of taking an independent stand in the face of fashion dictates, I have finally been recognized by the fashion world. Witness the Dossier Journal Style posting for November 19 if you will. 
http://dossierjournal.com/style/  Who are those good looking, fashion forward stars?

Sorry, I can't make this stand up straight!

Aside from my presence in the media, the world around Kingston is wet and cold. I have been busy doing what, I don't know, but time is passing, preparations are being made and winter is coming, along with the holidays. I have had a few sad moments because my sweet little QT died this week. I nursed her through a bought of scours and the last few weeks she seemed on the mend, eating with a great appetite both hay and grain. This week I came back from school and found her dead outside her shed. She was a real sweety but I think she has had some  serious internal health problems that finally overwhelmed her. At least I feel like she was happy and cared for when she died.

With Thanksgiving just a short week away, it is time to realize how lucky we all are. Despite our little complaints and our bigger problems, we have people to love and support us. We have a warm home and enough food to feel satisfied too much of the time.  Most important, we have faith in the future and faith in ourselves.

With all this wealth as part of our daily experience, it is hard not to become a little "let them eat cake" like in our awareness of others. I take an example from a recent day in the high school "math-for-daily-life" class. We all hear the repeated complaints about the failure of our schools to educate our students for the lives they need to lead. Why don't teacher demand more discipline? Why don't students care more and reach farther? Why don't parents support teachers and encourage excellence in their children's academic performance?  As hard as it is for those of us who are so very fortune to accept, there are many students who seem perfectly normal, average and able but are truly unable to learn anything beyond basic math. This may be because of their physical limitations or it may be their emotional disabilities but the reality is the same. Despite effort and encouragement there are limits on the complexity of information that can be understood and held for future experiences.

As I saw this reality repeated throughout the day, the need for safety nets and survival structures was brought to my mind. I am not suggesting wheel chairs and wagons to carry people through their lives, but crutches and railings that help people find a safe path to travel through their life with success and self-worth. Workers at the local convenience store,  greeters at Walmart, maintenance staff in the schools and hosts of other citizens offer important work to our society. The do the best job they can and they still have to pay rent, buy groceries and buy medicine when their children are sick. It is not in our best interest or societies that the hard work and long hours of these people leave them living below the poverty level and on the edge of survival.

We all look to local Food Banks, Goodwill, and Salvation Army missions to help those in need. We generously donate what we feel possible to help in these efforts. But the real offer of generosity and empathy will come when we require a social structure that offers basic health care and living wages to all of our citizens. The multitude of non-profit  organizations striving to meet the needs of poverty, illiteracy and illness only show the great failure in the structure we call our government, for only the government can provide an Interstate structure allowing all of our citizens to travel through life secure AND  productive.

And Thank God I live in a government where I can constantly proclaim my words of wisdom to the world!
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I send my hugs and kisses out to you.
Love,
Mama Llama